Pitch Returns
by writingbythesurf
Summary: Section of my Jack Frost series (in which Jack found his sister from before his transformation, and she has his powers too). Two shorts on how Pitch declares his return. R&R, if you please!


#1:

Jack laughed as he whizzed past his sister on the ice.

"Incoming!"

Startled, she lost her balance, and nearly took a faceplant on his lake. He caught her. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."

"Yeah," she grumbled, "I could tell by the way you skated by really fast and yelled-JaAck!"

She shrieked in surprise when her brother grabbed her and hoisted her over his shoulder.

"Jack, put me down!"

He grinned. "Nope." Jack couldn't have been more surprised when Natasha manifested a snowball and smashed it in his face.

An hour later, after a through snowball fight, Natasha and Jack were walking through the forest with their skates slung over their backs. Out of nowhere, Jack sensed a presence near him. Both him and his sister turned. Natasha furrowed her brow. "You felt that too?"

"Yeah."

Jack suddenly sucked in an involuntary breath. A sharp pain was blooming in his chest. He grimaced. It felt like someone digging a knife into his back. But he wasn't being attacked. The pain worsened a thousandfold, and Jack let out a cry.

"Aaah!"

Natasha immediately snapped to attention. "Jack, what is it?"

Her brother experienced the feeling of being yanked backward, and the pain only lessened a hair. Jack stumbled and collapsed on the ground, falling flat on his black. Natasha knelt beside him, her eyebrows arching upward in panic.

"Jack? What's wrong? Jack!" She shook him by the shoulders. When he didn't respond, she fished North's globe from his sweatshirt pocket and tossed it. The sphere inverted on itself and opened a swirling vortex. Natasha picked up her brother and walked through the portal.

With a rush of color, all the Guardians looked up as a dimensional hole burst open in the middle of the floor. Natasha appeared out of it, holding a limp Jack Frost in her arms. Her face was full of anguish.

"Something's happened to Jack! Help me, please!"

Jack awoke the next day in his room. He shook his head in an attempt to refresh his senses. Everything seemed to be a bit fuzzy.

"Jack?" someone asked gently. The winter spirit turned to find Natasha sitting in the corner. She stood and walked over to him as he sat up, a hand on his chest in awareness of the heaviness that still rested there. His sister sat next to him, her eyes worried. "Jack, what happened at the lake?" He raised his eyes.

"I don't know, I-it felt like someone stabbed me." Natasha creased her forehead. "But there wasn't anyone there." Jack repressed a slight shudder as he recalled the brief feeling of a dark presence.

"Are we sure?"

Natasha got to her feet. "Let's go talk to North." She started out the door.

Jack rose as well, but only he noticed the small particles that floated to the ground, making the tiniest of mounds. He bent and picked the substance up, afterward letting it drift through his fingers. His eyes narrowed in recognition. "We don't have to." Natasha turned to look, and her eyes widened at the black sand.

"Pitch."

#2:

Jack Frost awoke in the middle of the night to Baby Tooth chirping beside his ear. It sounded like a herd of reindeer to his half-asleep mind.

"Alright, alright, I'm up." he protested. When he sat up among the mussed sheets, Baby Tooth squeaked and pointed her beak toward the door. Jack ran a hand through his hair and wearily followed. To his slight surprise, he was led into Natasha's room. He found his sister tossing and turning, whispering something over and over that Jack couldn't quite make out. He was shocked into a state of deep concern by the tears that streaked her face and dripped onto her pillow. Natasha did NOT cry, no matter how trying the circumstances. He crossed the floor with quick, light steps and knelt beside his sibling.

"Natasha," he said quietly. "Natasha, wake up." She let out a soft cry in her sleep, but did not stir. It was starting to frighten him. "Natasha!" he said louder, giving her shoulders a shove. Natasha emitted a small gasp, and her eyes snapped open, flashing black. Jack stepped back. Why were her eyes _black?_ As he stared at his sister in disbelief, her lip started to tremble. She seemed to be completely stripped of her normal defiant demeanor. Jack approached her once again.

"Hey, hey, you're alright, okay? I'm here." Natasha's every muscle was shaking when he pulled her into a hug. Seeing she was vulnerable, he gathered her in his arms and let her head rest on his chest. She quietly sobbed into his sweatshirt. After quite a few minutes, Jack became extremely worried that she hadn't stopped. He lifted her chin. "Natasha, what's wrong? Tell me!" His sister just stared, glassy-eyed, straight ahead. It was as if she couldn't hear him at all. Truly unnerved now, Jack whispered to Baby Tooth, "Wake the others. Tell them it's urgent."

Jack was gently putting Natasha on the couch by the fireplace when the rest of the Guardians arrived.

"What's the problem, Jack?" North said in his usual loud manner. Jack tore his gaze away from his sister with effort.

"You guys have got to help her. Something's seriously wrong." Jack looked back at Natasha and shivered involuntarily. It frightened him, the way she simply stared at the wall, still crying and shaking. Her eyes remained black, looking for all the world like there was nothing out there to see. When North joined him, he immediately jerked back. Nicholas knew what this look meant. It wouldn't be long before-

"Guardians..."

The voice was smooth and roiling, the unmistakable tone that belonged to Pitch Black. Natasha let out a gasp of fear, and the darkness in her eyes grew deeper. The Nightmare King's infamous shadow slowly slid across the floor. Jack's sister shrank away from it. Her brother moved closer to her protectively, heart pounding. Why was Pitch here? The dark silhouette of the Guardian's old enemy reached its full length, covering the Frost twins. Pitch continued,

"I do hope you like my sentiment, Jack. I'm rather proud." Jack looked right at the shadow, refusing to be afraid.

"What have you done to Natasha?" Pitch laughed.

"You'd like to know, would you? I'll tell you. The reason she won't respond is because she is corrupted by MY darkness. She will be frozen in her worst nightmares for as long as I say. Poor little girl." Jack narrowed his eyes.

"Pitch, you have thirty seconds to-"

"Ah, ah. That won't be necessary, I only needed her to deliver this message. My nightmares will return, and there is nothing you can do to stop it this time." With that ominous statement, Pitch's shadow retreated slowly. Jack looked back at his sister. She was still trembling and had a death grip on his arm. Suddenly, two whirls of black sand swum around her eyes, and she jerked as she was released from the Nightmare King's grasp.

"Jack?" she whispered. "What's going on?" Jack leaned forward impulsively and gave his sister a hug.

"I'll tell you, don't worry. I'm just glad you're okay."

Natasha nodded and smiled halfway. "Yeah. Me too."


End file.
